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Obama makes one thing emphatically clear: He is the most powerful player in American business today.
AP Photo

Behind the scenes, Obama seems increasingly comfortable with his assertive role, according to Democratic officials. This mentality pervades the entire White House team — and it was on full display at Friday’s meeting with big bank CEOs. A source familiar with the meeting said that when one of them questioned the price buyers would be able to get for the bad loans known as toxic assets, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel jumped in to say: “Let’s do the deal right here.”

Obama, who entered the White House with notably little business experience, is trying to position himself as a common-sense centrist when it comes to bailouts, aides said. He rejected calls from leading liberals to nationalize banks and ignored pleas from Michigan Democrats to be as generous with the auto industry as he has been with the banks.

It should come as no surprise that Obama is trying to claim the middle ground. He picked Timothy Geithner for Treasury, Emanuel as chief of staff and Lawrence Summers as his top domestic adviser for a reason. All three are more in the moderate vein of President Bill Clinton than the liberal lane of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

So far, the president has not alienated the business community — and, in some cases, has found ways to win over executives who had been skeptical at best.

“His criticism of industry leaders has been well-placed and dead on, but he’s managed not to demonize or disparage the whole capitalist system,” Democratic strategist Jim Jordan said. “There’s nothing in the world that has the center of gravity to fix so much profoundly broken stuff. It’s got to be the federal government, and he has the confidence and approval rating to be able to try it.”

Obama also has tried to show he’s willing to listen. Some business leaders had complained that no one heard their views because Geithner was so swamped, with few deputies in place and constant demands from the cratering economy and an impatient Capitol Hill.

So Obama has had a series of West Wing meetings with executives in which he has heard about the problems of specific industries, including technology, hospitality and the airlines.

In an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Obama said he had lectured the bankers: “Show some restraint. ... Let me help you — help me help you. ... It’s very difficult for me as president to call on the American people to make sacrifices to help shore up the financial system if there’s no sense of mutual obligation.”

But participants said he conveyed the message diplomatically, saying little and drawing out almost all of the bankers to find out what was on their minds. They said they felt consulted, not scolded — another victory for the young president.

Obama used a similarly deft touch in letting Midwest lawmakers know about the harsh medicine he planned for the carmakers. In the Oval Office on Sunday evening, Obama called Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and three other lawmakers for a long conversation in which he argued that the industry could become viable again through the unpopular plan he was about to propose.

Levin praised the president for a “good give-and-take.” But the senator recalled that there was no opportunity to change the president’s mind about his insistence that Wagoner resign as GM’s CEO. Levin said Obama’s mind was clearly made up: “He didn’t ask us about it. He informed us.”

Democratic strategist Jim Jordan said. “There’s nothing in the world that has the center of gravity to fix so much profoundly broken stuff. It’s got to be the federal government, and he has the confidence and approval rating to be able to try it.”

Hey Jimmy ... Its called Bankruptcy Court and Chapter 11 was written precisely for these situations.

dora_rice: Mar. 31, 2009 - 4:48 AM EST

Most amazingly, he then pushed out Rick Wagoner, the CEO of General Motors, and vowed to let Chrysler fail if it didn’t merge with another company within a month.

Wouldn't you just love to be the guy negotiating for Fiat? My opening merger offer to Chrysler would be two pizzas and a box of canolis.

Obama just gelded Chrysler and will cost them billions in any merger deal ... what a moron.

Yep, thank God we have a leader who has been through the difficult times we as "ordinary" Americans have been through, he is for the middle class despite the cacophony of noise from the other side

(G.(N)O.P), err i mean the Party that like to call themselves the fiscal conservatives, who plundered this nations reserves to fight Wars that should have never been fought(minus Afghanistan), the party who rewarded greed and excess and gave huge tax breaks to the very tiny portion of our population. The same party who call themselves social conservatives but are so far of the Scriptures(they purportedly believe in), if the Blessed Christ appeared, they would mistake him for OBL(Osama Bin Laden) or worse look at him as not fitting into their narrow lens(not white, Southernes, with no KKK membership).

To my President Bravo, clean the whole house, spray it and let that stench be washed away.

pray for God's wisdom and grace to be on your family and especially the first lady Michelle.

I wasn't aware that being a Harvard trained lawyer, even if you were editor of the Law Review, qualified you to be the CEO of every industrial sector in the private economy. Even if it did, there's no Constitutional authority bestowed on the President of the United States to dictate terms of employment to private industry executives or anyone else in the private sector.

Thomas Jefferson wouldn't agree with this action by our government ... (Compliments of The Mike Church Show)all

"The days of saying, ‘It’s not our economy’ have come to an end.”" Good. How offensive was it when the Obama marketing staff kept repeating "we inherited this mess" - as if being President was a burden and we were victimizing the black man. Poor baby. Never forget 1. Obama begged and fought for the privilege of working as President. 2. That his first actions as President were wrong, dishonest, overreaching and hysterical. Imagine a real leader signing two record setting financial pieces of legislation that made him into a liar and then just shrugging his shoulders and saying "I know what I signed is bad but just let me and my party steal this money here and we will be do better and be honest in the future." Obama would like to blame that bad beginning on Pelosi but he can't - he's the one he's been waiting for right? 3. Obama is an intern - he knows much less and has much less experience than most politicians and he's just selecting among a vending machine of opinions around him. His arrogance and fronting as if he has any moral authority seems pointedly grotesque. What has he ever sacrificed what real work has he ever done or produced - nothing. A chronic pothead who skipped school and watched cartoons into his twenties and then got rewarded because of racial quotas. He has no moral authority at all - are we supposed to fake admiration for 4 years? What this means is we can expect the unexpected because inexperienced young people are impressionable and capable big pendulum swings. That is why we are supposed to get a leader with experience so at least they are predictable.

Obama vacillates between his lame comedy tap dance looking to be accepted and attempts to be macho to compensate for the one thing he really did inherit - weakness - no core beliefs of his own. If he had any we could predict better and we would be safer. But he is a masked man who has spent his life hiding his true story. The version out on the bookshelves is his sanitized fantasy version and he has actively suppressed the facts of his true growing up years. Maybe Arianna Huffingtons new investigative group can get some real facts on Obama. People need to stop being so racist when it comes to Obama when they think just because he can talk without acting violent it must make him a genius. Obama is aggressively mediocre in all areas except the ones he is subpar in. Think about how many white people in the press "assumed" that Obama was supernaturally bright because a) he could read and write and b) he was willing to listen to the opinions of others. Yea... so he could steal them - he was window shopping for what to believe in. He still isn't sure what he believes in and now we have to watch him try to grow up and choose. Just like his daddy (not daddy long legs he was daddy no legs) Obama Junior is being educated at our expense. When do the handouts end?

No, that other one that was so terrible just one year ago and now, with no troops withdrawn, seems just fine with you leftists.

When will our Commander-in Chief order an immediate cessation to all combat operations in Iraq? When will a hugely Democratic Congress vote for a rapid troop withdrawal as they did in 2007 (HR2956)? Is this war still "illegal" and if not when exactly did that change? Is Obama now a "war criminal" of the likes of Bush/Cheney/Rummsfeld? And where the hell are these guys?

Obama finally took a stand for the taxpayers of America. He showed some Leadership, by giving them an ultimatum He took control and took what ever power the UAW thought they had off the table. Now maybe the foot dragging will come to an end. The cuts to wages and benefits must be gotten and the plant closures and model eliminations should be immeadiate. They are struggling to survive remember ? Time to demand they fall in line or go into Bankruptcy. The Public is sick and tired of being taped to support these failing business models. You Go Obama, You finally woke up !!!

Obama finally took a stand for the taxpayers of America. He showed some Leadership, by giving them an ultimatum He took control and took what ever power the UAW thought they had off the table. Now maybe the foot dragging will come to an end. The cuts to wages and benefits must be gotten and the plant closures and model eliminations should be immeadiate. They are struggling to survive remember ? Time to demand they fall in line or go into Bankruptcy. The Public is sick and tired of being taped to support these failing business models. You Go Obama, You finally woke up !!!